I spent some time recently with an elderly relative who is fading fast. She spends a lot of time watching TV, especially "reality shows." One of her favorites is something like "Alaskan Bush People" featuring a family named BROWN who seem to live in Alaskan back country, building cabins, scraping together a livelihood, dodging bears, hunting moose . . . whatever. After a few days of watching this, I came away convinced it's about 99.9% staged bullshit. Whadda you real Alaskans say?

Totally staged. The "Bush" people live in their homemade compound only in the summer months and then live in Hoonah in apartments in the winter. Nothing on the show is actually true but all has been staged. Yes, these people have lived rough for much of their lives but not actually in the way they portray. More than a few of them have been charged with Alaska PFD violations and another large group of them have been charged with fishing/hunting violations. Their court dates keep getting pushed back due to their filming schedule. They are a weird family that lives outside of what is considered "normal" by many but by no means do they get by merely by subsisting and bartering as they pretend to do on the show.

The family has made the rounds through many small Southeast Alaska towns and they've been run out of many of those towns because they are grifter weirdos that can't honor many of the agreements they make with locals.

When they were "building" their home up in Copper Center they went askew of a few of the locals and that's why they had to run back down to Southeast to the property called "Browntown" that the discovery channel purchased for them and assisted them in clearing and building that shack that they call a house. Weird bunch of people from Texas that have gotten on the wrong side of too many Alaskans.

But that's not to say that there are not tens of thousands of Alaskans or more, who actually have built a cabin, lived in rural areas, hunted and fished for food and scraped by with an assortment of odd jobs to make ends meet.

I haven't seen the show but I suspect they took the essence of what makes Alaska and Alaskans so great and turned it into a parody.

Great Alaskans don't need or want to make a big deal of about all the "tough outdoorsy" things they do. They just do them because that's what living in Alaska is all about.

I've been here for over 30 years and have known only one couple that lived the "old style" Alaskan way, meaning that they had no running water or electricity. They soon acquiesced to modern conveniences same as 90% of us that live here in AK. The "rough living" bush person is an anachronism and perhaps 10% of our population live that way. Many of those living that way are natives that are stuck in the bush and can't afford to live with modern conveniences in the the urban/suburban areas. There truly aren't many people that make a conscience choice to live without water/sewer/heat/electricity. That is just an old Alaskan myth that refuses to die. The population centers of AK are just like anywhere else, urban/suburban with all the amenities. 90% of Alaskans live this way with a small percentage that either won't or can't partake in modernity. Believe me, this is no place to live without having every modern convenience at your fingertips!

Hi, nice to meet you. I lived in the Bush without indoor plumbing or electricity for years. We exist. Yes, lots of people don't do it forever, or electricity comes to them when a power line arrives in the area. But if you actually spend time in rural Alaska, you will meet people who do indeed live a rural lifestyle.

1:28 I realize that a lot of the "wilderness" ways are lost and a fantasy for many Alaskans, but there are still many, many who live that way, at least in large part. Especially in rural communities and for sure those that are off the road system.

I doubt anyone would turn down a chance to stock up in Anchorage (we travel with empty suitcases or buy new totes in town Anchorage and fill them up).

I know I spend much of my shopping money on heavy house stuff and books!

Loved that Alaska scenery is in his photo! He loved it up here on his recent visit and he and his family plan to return. He/they will receive a very warm welcome AGAIN.

That really did frost the hell out of the racist 'quitter' gov of Alaska and it will again. Too bad, sista Sarah! It's way past time you learn to respect our outstanding, black, President of the United States of America!

Facebook said Friday it has stepped up its battle against spammers who promise to deliver "likes" to its members, and warned users on using such scams.

The world's most popular social network said that to date, it has obtained legal judgments of nearly $2 billion against fraudulent activities on Facebook. It was not clear how much of that was actually collected.

Facebook's moves appeared to counter concerns that users -- including politicians and companies selling products -- are buying "likes" to make them appear more popular. And it is targeting a cottage industry which seeks to deliver these results to Facebook members, often promising "10,000 likes" or more for a fee.

"We write rules and use machine learning to catch suspicious behavior that sticks out. When we catch fraudulent activity, we work to counter and prevent it, including blocking accounts and removing fake likes all at once," Facebook site integrity engineer Matt Jones said in a blog post.

Currently Palin gets thousands and thousands of likes on each of her ghostwritten Facebook post, but considering her dwindling support I think we all know that is total bullshit.

After the OFA Fall Summit at the St. Regis Hotel in D.C., President Obama crossed the lobby to a restaurant, where according to the pool report, around 55 people were having dinner. Obama gave a few “off-the-cuff” remarks to them, including a real zinger that will devastate Republicans.

“So where are we right now? The economy has improved by every measure,” President Obama said. “The fact of the matter is, is that if you ask the question Ronald Reagan said was the most important thing to ask about a presidency, and that is, ‘Are you better off than you were four years ago?'”

“You are,” the President said. “We’ve made great strides on health care. We’ve made strides in education and access to college. We’ve made serious strides in clean energy. You know the statistics.”

I can't get enough of this. Some of my fave photos of this important wake up were from Dillingham Alaskahttp://www.pressherald.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/705346_Obama.JPEG-0b837.jpgDillingham Middle School in Dillingham, Alaskahttp://m.voanews.com/a/obama-visiting-arctic-community-to-highlight-climate-change/2942309.htmlAlaska Native dance in Dillingham, AKhttps://i.ytimg.com/vi/90YZc3k7rdI/maxresdefault.jpg

KOTZEBUE, Alaska — President Barack Obama crossed the Arctic Circle on Wednesday in a first by a sitting U.S. president, telling residents in a far-flung Alaska village that their plight should be the world's wake-up call on global warming.http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/ows_144124068770700.jpg

Alaska Natives and others toil under rough-and-tumble conditions that most Americans would be hard-pressed to imagine.

Closing out his three-day tour of Alaska, Obama first dropped in on the western fishing village of Dillingham to inspect one of the biggest sockeye salmon runs in the world and underscore the need to “protect this incredible natural resource, not just for the people whose livelihoods depends on it, but for the entire country.”http://www.pressherald.com/2015/09/02/presidents-visit-spotlights-struggles-of-rural-alaskans/

About Me

This blog is dedicated to finding the truth, exposing the lies, and holding our politicians and leaders accountable when they fall far short of the promises that they have made to both my fellow Alaskans and the American people.